Turkish Wine

Despite some 1,250 grape varietals grown in the Middle Eastern country of Turkey, only a scant percentage is now produced as wine. Turkey may be viewed as a relatively progressive Muslim country compared to some of its neighbors, but alcohol consumption is still quite low. Long ago, this was the part of the world that pretty much invented wine. There is evidence of ancient wine-making equipment found in Turkey that is believed to be at least 6000 years old. Wine was banned entirely during the 500 years of the Ottoman Empire, starting in the early 16th century, save for the small percentages of Jews and Christians who were allowed to make wine for religious purposes. When the empire collapsed after World War I, it was the first Turkish president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the first commercial winery, Doluca, in 1925. Since then the industry has built up slowly, with mostly larger companies such as Kavaklidere, Pammukale, Mey Gida (formerly Tekel) and and a few boutique wineries Read more »

Despite some 1,250 grape varietals grown in the Middle Eastern country of Turkey, only a scant percentage is now produced as wine. Turkey may be viewed as a relatively progressive Muslim country compared to some of its neighbors, but alcohol consumption is still quite low. Long ago, this was the part of the world that pretty much invented wine. There is evidence of ancient wine-making equipment found in Turkey that is believed to be at least 6000 years old. Wine was banned entirely during the 500 years of the Ottoman Empire, starting in the early 16th century, save for the small percentages of Jews and Christians who were allowed to make wine for religious purposes. When the empire collapsed after World War I, it was the first Turkish president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the first commercial winery, Doluca, in 1925. Since then the industry has built up slowly, with mostly larger companies such as Kavaklidere, Pammukale, Mey Gida (formerly Tekel) and and a few boutique wineries.

Turkey’s wine industry is spread through five regions. The majority of wines are produced in Marmara and Thrace, Central Anatolia, and the Aegean coastal region. Others are produced on the Mediterranean coast and Southeast. The climates in these regions vary from hot and dry summers with mild winters toward the coast, and hot summers with cooler, wetter winters further inland.

With so many grape varieties, including a significant number of vinifera, grown in Turkey, producers have plenty of choices in what to cultivate as wine. The most popular indigenous white grapes are Nemir, Narince, and Sultana. Popular reds are Bogazkere, Kalecik Karasi, Karasakiz, Çalkarasi, and Öküzgözü. European grapes (though their predecessors might well have been born here) are on the rise, and are often used as blending components as well as single varietal styles.

Apart from what there is of wine to be had, Turkey has a national spirit called Raki. This is akin to Lebanese Arak - a grape pomace distillate flavored with anise seed. It is often served chilled as a meal accompaniment.

According to a YouGov poll, forty-one percent of Americans enjoy wine with Thanksgiving dinner. It's no wonder we spend so much time planning our drink menus. Turkey Day wines have been discussed on Snooth at length over the past ten years. Tastes have...

Have you been drowning in rosé? For most of us it’s a summertime guarantee. Gratefully, the majority of rosé have something unique to share. Endless combinations of grapes, production methods, climate and terroir make variety possible.

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We celebrated Thanksgiving at Sandra's folks and included two birthdays too ... too ... to bring over the turkey she was cooking. I saved the 2015 Soter North Valley Chardonnay for the turkey dinner, which didn't start until after 6 PM because the turkey cooking time was under-estimated. Anyway, the Soter Chardonnay was very good. Glad we j...
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A little more context can be found for the East Bay turkey infestation here. Seems like their reputation for being dumb birds may be ill founded since their survival strategies are looking crafty. Seems like they're trying to bust into the inner group, with crows and pigeons, of birds that do well in a human environment.Hemingway wrote about how...
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DMCKER - If it weren't illegal to hunt with a car I'd have turkey every day of the week. Flocks of 20-30 strong on the side of the rode. The reservation near us gives away turkey tags to their tribal members.We've got a group of about 15-20 that my dog has a blast with and you should see them try to get off the ground and fly through the trees...
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So Greece and Turkey are still in that map (perhaps not Crete); the main difference is dropping Hungary and adding Moldova when talking about 'The Balkans'. Well, one of my wines is from Hungary, so I'm keeping it in. However, another one of my wines (a nice one I might add) is from Moldova, which I didn't list. I could switch it up, but mayb...
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There's serious controversy amongst geographers and historians about ... ... even by the slipshod) and Turkey should be included--purists refuse to allow. Then we can get into whether Moldova is supposed to be part of Romania (or the Ukraine, or Russia as Putin might think). We need to qualify who's putting these maps together, for what purpos...
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Well that's a bullshit map, in historical, cultural, ethnic, geopolitical ... it together??Cut out Greece, Turkey and Hungary and we're getting closer to what has been referred to in the most contexts during the 20th Century as 'The Balkans'. The former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania, basically. Problem states, all split up and 'balkanized',...
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Greetings from our www.kemerbag29.com resort guesthouse&vineyard at the island of Bozcaada and welcome to join our facebook group kemerbag 29 guesthouse or the other kemerbag 29 resort konukevi/guesthouse.

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1800267Rıfat Diker1800267

Apr 2, 2014

Where can I find very very sweet wine in Ankara, Turkey?

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1486485Mayce1486485

Jun 24, 2013

The Idol rosé wine was a perfect addition to our Holiday in Side, altough you cannot find anything about this rosé on the internet.
We had this wine in the brand new Barut Sensatori Sorgun hotel and it is better than a lot of French rosés;

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1302374Snoother 13023741302374

Apr 21, 2012

You CANNOT get a bad wine here. I live in Ankara and just get the cheapest reds so I can wind down after work. I am actually a fan of New World wines normally because the cheaper European reds are the stuff migraines are made of, but the wines here in Turkey are very clean and you always feel good. The taste is somewhere between South Africa and...

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1068534Gwenlliana1068534

Oct 6, 2010

TurkishWines4Me.com or on facebook....Turkish Wines 4 Me

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602120Turkish Wines 4 Me602120

Oct 6, 2010

Check out (Turkish Wines 4 Me) on facebook all about Turkish Wine

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602120Turkish Wines 4 Me602120

Aug 23, 2010

Dreadful wines, truly dreadful. The whites particularly are pure salad dressing. Almost as bad as Greece plus and there's a 400% tax on the stuff locally. No wonder nobody there drinks it.

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562158denmate1960562158

Jul 16, 2010

Yes, I just returned from Turkey and would like to purchase the Angora red I had at a hotel called Agora Life. Can you help me. I live in VA and the only store listed was in NYC. Thanks.